Play on!
The round one clash between Carlton and Richmond will go ahead as planned on Thursday night without fans in attendance.
Breaking: Round 1 is on. pic.twitter.com/TBhVg9jdKn
— 7AFL (@7AFL) March 18, 2020
After hours of deliberation, the AFL commission reached its decision on Wednesday evening.
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan confirmed that the goal is to complete a 153 regular-season games with 16-minute quarters plus time on as the league looks to squeeze the fixture.
"We start tomorrow night confident after discussions with the chief medical officer that our players are well placed to bear the proportionate risk of playing a contact sport," he said on Wednesday night.
"We commence tomorrow night on Government advice that putting on a game sits within the newly established guidelines and protocols announced by the Prime Minister this morning.
"We also embark on this journey with clear instruction from the government that all industry and all parts of society need to keep moving forward, and we simply cannot stand still."
He added: โWe know that any time a player may test positive can halt our journey temporarily.
โWeโre building resilience measures in our squads and our clubs to deal with the positive test of one or multiple players.
โWe start tomorrow night confident that our players are well placed to bear the proportionate risk of playing a contact sport.
โWe donโt know how many games weโll get in before we have to pause. But what I do know today is I feel comfortable (that) tonight our industry is unified in making a decision to start.โ
Richmond and Carlton will open the season on Thursday night at an empty MCG at 7.25pm.
